Cliff Blake

By Cliff Blake Might I Suggest ... Perhaps people are getting sick of computerized shopping suggestions. Most would agree that banner ads aren't quite cutting it, but there might be a way to allow for real people to once again make those infinitely specific and truly intimate suggestions that people can't help but at least think about. San Francisco-based Merchandising Avenue performs what's called contextual marketing, a process by which content-rich sites like the online version of the San Diego Union Tribune, women's portal shenetworks.com or humor site zthing.com serve up links to merchandise that (gasp) actually has something to do with the